"Hawks! Hawks! Hawks!"
Our rivals' chanting filled the rink as our team sat in our box gazing at them. Connie sat on the floor between my legs as I french braid her hair.
I look up and see Larson and McGill skating up to us. "What do those two boso's want?"
"Hi girls!" Larson taunts, resulting in Karp chucking his gloves and lunging forward at the hawk.
I finish off Connie's braid and tell her she can get up, I also stand up and walk over to the boys.
"Get a life you pigeon!" I growl at the boys and they skate away. "Chill Karp, you'll just end up getting your ass kicked or thrown out the game."
"Whatever." Karp mutters, shoving the boys hands away and sulking off to the sit on the bench.
<^>
"Win! Win! Win!"
The Hawks and their supporters in the stands chant and bang their sticks on the floor, whilst District-Five just watch in boredom.
"Alright guys, gather round. Come on, come on." Bombay beckons us over to him. "Win. Win. Win!"
We all look around at each other, confused. What the hell is he doing? Some of the boys start to join in but are not in sync at all.
"Yeah, we're fired up!" Coach says sarcastically.
<^>
District Five skates up our end and we all hit Goldberg's pads.
Charlie was the last to skate past him and he was a little too rough when hitting Goldberg's pads and ended up knocking him down.
"Nice goin' fool!" Goldberg groans.
"Sorry I didn't mean to do that." Charlie apologises. Goldberg doesn't believe him and Charlie starts to gently hit Goldberg with his stick.
"Guys, come on!" Guy groans, trying to stop our squabbling friends.
"Dee please do something?" Peter asks with his head in his hands. I roll my eyes, hop out the box and skate over to Goldberg and Charlie.
"Hey, hey. Hey!" They both look at me, alarmed. "Quit it! We don't have to be anymore humiliated then we're gonna be after this game. So, let's go!"
"Alright." They agree and me and Charlie skate back over to the team, leaving Goldberg to struggle to his feet.
<^>
I skate up to centre and get ready for the face off when I hear my name being called. "Delilah! Bombay get over here!"
I huff and skate over to the box. "What, coach?"
"You're not taking the face off. Guy go in." Gordon pats Guy's back and sends him out on the ice.
"What?! Are you kidding me?!" I ask.
"Does it look like I'm joking?" Bombay has a stone-cold face.
"We're gonna be whipped! Delilah always takes the face-offs because everyone is scared off her." Connie states.
"Well, I'm coach. I decide."
"So what, are you gonna make me sit out the whole game?" I ask him, angrily.
"You better drop that attitude kid!" He points at me.
"She's the best on the team!" Peter exclaims.
"I don't care! Everyone sit!" He demands.
The first whistle is blown and the puck is dropped, McGill sends the puck over to one of his team mates before ramming into Guy.
This is gonna be a long game.
<^>
"Aw man! How could you let him by you?!" Goldberg complains throwing his stick on the floor. The score is currently 5-0 and I still haven't played yet. We're in the second period.
"For god's sake coach, call a line change! Let me play!" I practically beg the older man, and my fellow team mates sitting on the bench agree.
"Alright, line change. Come on, go, go, go." Coach answers bored.
"Finally!" I exclaim at the same time Charlie does when he notices I'm coming on the ice.
Karp and Peter slowly roll off the side of the rink to hit the ice and get in position. I quickly grab my stick and am about to put my helmet on when I lock eyes with a hawk. Adam Banks.
The boys always tell me how horrible all the hawks are and that they're all cake eaters. So this guy best not try anything with me right now.
Surprisingly, he just gives me a small smile and a nod. Shocked I blink at him before rushing off onto the ice.
I take face off and get in position, being face to face with McGill made me want to throw up.
"I'll go easy on you, babe." He smirks.
I roll my eyes and shrug, "Its your funeral."
The puck is dropped and after some wrestling for the puck, I gain control and send it over to my right wing, Peter. He shoots it over to Guy, who passes it to Charlie who skates with it all the way to the Hawk's zone with five Hawks on his trail. Just before he trips and falls he passes it to me and I instantly skate as close to the net as I can get before I shoot and... Score! 5-1.
"And we're back in the game!" I cheer as Charlie quickly embraces me in a hug.
As we're skating away from the goal I hear my father shout, "Bombay! You're off!"
"What?!" Most of the team yells.
"I just got our first goal and your pulling me out?! I've been on the ice for like two seconds!" I exclaim.
"More like two minutes!" He raises his voice. "Too long to score one point in my opinion."
"What would you know about it?!" Jesse questions.
"We worked hard for that goal!" I shout.
"Well-"
"District-5 lets play hockey not have a domestic!" The Ref calls to us.
"Sorry." Gordon calls to him before turning to me. "Your off and that's final. Sit on the bench."
I sigh, "Whatever."
<^>
All of a sudden the Hawk's stands start chanting 'Banks' and I watch as he tricks Goldberg into coming out of the net, leaving our goal wide open before he takes his shot and of course scores. The score is now 8-1 and that's the end of second period.
Everyone comes off the ice to rest and hydrate themselves, well not everyone as I spent most of my time on the bench.
"How lazy can you be?!" Bombay rips Goldberg's drink from his mouth before a drop could even touch his tongue. "They're killing us out there! How many times do I gotta tell you: Get those rebounds, get your heads up, get those loose pucks. Get... just... get the hell outta here."
We all roll our eyes and huff. "Am I gonna play again, Gordon?"
"Excuse me?" He turns to me.
"Am I gonna play again or should I just start taking my pads off now?" I snap at him.
"Who do you think you are?" He asks walking up to me.
"Well last time I checked I was Delilah Bombay." I reply.
"Who do you think you're talking to?!"
"I think you need to book an appointment at the doctors. Its very worrying how you don't know your own name." I say sarcastically. "Maybe that's the reason you have just forgotten that I'm actually on this team and not some stupid mascot that sits their and looks pretty in her uniform."
"Get outta my face before I do something I might regret." He demands.
"I think you've already done that." I tell him bluntly. He looks at me confused and I roll my eyes before responding, "Here I am. Your biggest regret. Ta-da!"
"GO!" He yells and the whole ice rink goes quiet and turns to us.
"Gladly!" I raise my voice and make my way back to the locker room.
I change out of my hockey gear and watch the rest of our game. Charlie takes the puck, skates all the way from Goldberg to the perfect spot in front of the goal but misses the puck and slides into the boards. I can faintly hear Ms Conway cheering him on but that is drowned out by Coach shouting: "Nice fan, Charlie. Keep swingin'. Maybe you'll give 'em a cold."
"Douche bag!" I exclaim angrily.
<^>
The game ends and shock horror we lost. 17-1. What a joke!
The team slowly starts to filter into the locker room, arguing loudly.
"Hey shut up!" Gordon makes his presence known. "You guys stink!"
"I had a shower this morning." I mutter to Guy earning a small laugh from him.
"I thought we came here to play hockey." Gordon continues.
"You know, I knew we forgot something." Peter jokes, small laughter erupts around the room.
"I just thought we forgot Goldberg." I add, with a small shrug.
"Oh, ha-ha." Goldberg replies sarcastically, but we all still chuckle softly.
"Oh you think this is funny? You think loosing is funny?" Gordon asks.
"Well, not at first, but once you get the hang of it." Averman replies.
"Better than being a sore loser after every game." I agree.
"We're the ones out there getting our butts kicked." Jesse speaks up annoyed.
"Yeah, it's not like you coach us or anything." Terry says. "At least we tried."
"You didn't listen to a word I said." Gordon disagrees and begins to list all the things we did wrong but I just zone him out. "Why the hell won't you just listen to me?!"
"Why the hell should we?" Jesse fires back. "You made our best player sit on the bench for basically that whole game! What, you think we'd all be on your side after that?!"
"You lost it for us not the other way around." I speak up, from where I stood leaning against the wall.
"Don't get me started with you." He shakes his head. "How dare you embarrass me like that in front of everyone?!"
"How dare I? How dare you?! Your meant to be the coach! Your meant to do what's best for the team! I scored a goal in two minutes and you pulled me out, but no one else scored a goal for the rest of the game and they all stayed in and rotated positions. How the hell is that fair?!" I raise my voice.
"Life ain't fair, Denise! The sooner you learn that the better!" Gordon shouts, and a few gasps are heard around the room at his mistake.
"What'd you call me?" I ask him.
"I-I"
"Who the hell is Denise?!"
"Are you really gonna criticise one mistake I make?"
"I could 'criticise' you on a lot more if I wanted to." I shake my head. "What's my name?"
He rolls his eyes, "Its Delilah."
"You sure about that?" Peter asks.
He scoffs, "You think I don't know my own daughters name?"
"You didn't a few seconds ago." Jesse speaks up.
"I don't know why this has all turned around on me. This has nothing to do with me! It's your fault you lost! Not mine!"
"It's your fault you can't coach!" I tell him.
"Get outta my face, kid!"
"Screw you!"
I storm out of the locker room with my bag on my shoulder, and I hurriedly put my rings on, but accidently bump into a tall figure. "Oh, sorry."
"Don't be. It was my fault." The familiar voce of the Hawk's coach speaks up, causing me to look up from my hands and to his face. "Coach Reilly. I coach the-"
"The Hawks, I know who you are. You're very good at what you do." I accept the hand he held out to me politely. "Delilah Bombay, from District-5."
"You're the girl that scored on my team." He says in realisation. "You're a very good player."
"Thank you." I half smile.
"So, I heard you're neighbours with one of my kids on the team." He states.
"Someone's been doing their research." I joke, we both give a breathy laugh.
"Yes, it's my star, Banks, I believe." He informs me. "You live on the same street if I'm correct."
"Maybe. I don't really spend much time at home." I shrug.
"I understand." He nods solemnly. "Well, I was going to ask if you would like to try out for my team."
"I'm sorry, I can't. D5 is my team and my family." I tell him.
"Well, the Hawks can be that too. And you live in our district anyway." He tries to convince me.
"No, my house is in District-5 district lines -" I cut myself off. "-otherwise, I would've joined the Hawks the first time... Wait, if what you said about Banks is true, and he does live on my street, then that means... Banks is playing for the wrong team!"
"Be quiet!" He hushes me. "If you didn't want to be on my team, you could've just said."
"Sorry."
"It's your loss anyway. That 'family' of yours isn't going anywhere but the gutter." He states.
"Well, at least we'll be together then, won't we?" I fake smile and walk off, I make eye contact with Adam Banks on my way out and instantly evert my gaze to my shoes.
I can't believe all that just happened.